Heroines

This should be interesting. I am writing this because of an interesting post by my pal and fellow blogger Marissa Rapier from earlier today. The challenge in this was to name three heroes of the female variety - one a fictitious character, one a movie star, and the third a musician/rock star. The object of this, as in so many other Facebook notes, is to reveal some sort of something about yourself that people haven't already figured out for themselves, I guess. Deep stuff. So here goes. (By the way folks, this originated as a 'Facebook note' and I am just too consarned lazy to write anything original for t'blog this evening, so this'll have to suffice. Sue me.)

Fictitious Character: Well, first I have to think of books that I like, and of those, see if there are any female characters that I can identify with, which, being a guy, is kind of tricky, it has to be said. My favourite series of books is the Hitch Hiker's guide series by Douglas Adams, but the main female character in there is Trillian, who ends up being a time-travelling journo in Mostly Harmless who has Arthur Dent's child using a sperm bank, and although she was cute in the first book, is actually kind of a hateful character by the end of it all, so that rules her out. There's also Fenchurch from So Long And Thanks For All The Fish who is a rather wonderful character but she ends up disappearing into a parallel universe at the beginning of book 5 and is never heard from again, so that's a real downer. 

No, I think the female fictitious person I can identify with most is the wonderful Matilda Wormwood from Roald Dahl's Matilda, who is a bright, intelligent and resourceful girl who overcomes adversity (in the shape of her horrible family and nasty brute of a headmistress), discovers the power of telekinesis and helps Miss Honey get back the house that is rightfully hers, and ends up being adopted by Miss Honey at the end while her awful parents leave town for good. Matilda rocks!

Movie Star: Now then. I have much thinks about this tricky one. There are many female movie stars that I can appreciate, some for their obvious charms, some for their acting chops, and some for a bit of both. But a movie star that is somewhat of a hero to me? Hmmm. 'Tis a most perplexing mystery. 

There is nothing like a dame....

I think that even though there are a ton of them and the harder I think the more confused I get, I am going to have to go with my gut instinct and say Dame Helen Mirren. She has the classical training, the ability to play a variety of roles at different ages in her life, and she has been in some real classics such as The Long Good Friday, The Queen, Gosford Park,The Madness Of King George, Cal, The Comfort Of Strangers, Excalibur, O Lucky Man!  and of course Prime Suspect on t'telly. Plus, she's gorgeous but not 'Hollywood beautiful'. She's a real woman and a class act.

"Hi, I'm Patti and I'll break your nose, punk."

Musician/Rock Star: Well now. There are quite a few candidates for this one also. I think of all the different female recording artistes I like and they range from the likes of Kim Wilde and Pauline Black through to June Carter Cash and Beverly Sills, to Bjork and Kate Pierson of The B-52's. I probably will again go with my gut and say Patti Smith, the Godmother of Punk, the rock poetess, who's still out there and doing it and happens to be the same age as my mum. Go Patti!

Well, there ya go kiddies. Did you learn anything?