Teen Beat

I vaguely remember mooning over celebrities in my youth: Michael Jackson, Rick Springfield, Johnny Depp, River Phoenix, Kiefer Sutherland, John Taylor (Duran Duran), Dweezil Zappa, Billy Baldwin (circa Flatliners), pretty much all of Depeche Mode, Rob Lowe, Timothy Hutton, Judd Nelson (Breakfast Club!)and I really liked Andrew McCarthy for some reason.

I know that I liked these celebrities and was interested in stuff they were doing--music, TV or movies. But I didn't obsess. I didn't have posters or buy teen dream magazines.

Over the years, instead of growing out of adolescent fantasy, I have mastered the art. With my pop culture and celebrity gossip addictions I have come to appreciate more than ever the abundance of beautiful men out there for me to have schoolgirl crushes on.

My teenage daughters find it silly, scary and more than a little bit sad.

My most recent obsession is with Tyson Ritter, lead singer for The All-American Rejects. I fully believe that if I was 10 years younger I would hit the road and go after him--and I just KNOW that he would find me witty and beguiling and I could help heal is shattered heart. He is beautiful. I love his hair and his crooked smile. He's funny and undeniably dorky. On their fan site he does Rejects TV and he is strangely fascinating and outrageously hilarious. He wrote one of the best "screw you!" breakup songs ever, "Gives You Hell." And (obviously) he's a musician--my greatest weakness.

He currently serenades me every time my phone rings, and it always makes me smile.

I don't know if crushing on hot, twenty-something stars makes me a (god forbid) cougar or a pedophile, but there sure are a lot of tasty, young morsels out there these days.

Some of my other faves include Zach Efron (I was just as shocked as you--but have you seen 17 Again?), Shia LeBeouf, Taylor Lautner & Justin Timberlake.

In the thirty-something category, I like Zachary Quinto (Spock totally brought the sexy back!), John Mayer (I know he's a prick, but he's a hot, tattooed musician prick and that is TOTALLY my type!), Milo Ventimiglia, Adam Levine (Maroon 5) & Jared Leto.

So, here's to hot men and sweet, sweet dreams...goodnite!