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Fangirl Fridays – Joe Manganiello

Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?

If you are a regular reader here, you
might have noticed that I have a very large small obsession with Joe
Manganiello. The other Wenches sure have noticed. It's so bad that I will
sometimes get Facebook notifications that I've been tagged in
something by one of them, and it's almost always about Joe. The Wenches
are also kind enough to notify me whenever he's going to appear on a talk show
or guest star in a TV series. They know that I'll want to DVR it. Or at
least find a YouTube video of it. So when we started doing our Fangirl
Friday posts, they didn't even need to ask who the topic of my first
piece was going to be. So here I am to convince you all that you, too,
should love Joe Manganiello. Besides, how can you not at least think he's hot? I mean, LOOK AT HIM!

My love for him started, as it did for most people, with True Blood.
I had watched the first two seasons and read all of the books that were
out at the time, and I needed more. So I went in search of casting news
about my favorite character, Alcide Herveaux (yes, I am Team Alcide).
Lo and behold, there was an article, and more importantly pictures, of
this completely and totally gorgeous man with a ridiculously toned body.
I was hooked. I needed to know everything there was to know about this
Joe Manganiello.

Read more about my love of this man, and prepare for some ridiculous fangirling, after the break...

Oh, Joe. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.. His Devastatingly Good LooksAll
right, let's just get this out of the way. This is what drew me to Joe
in the first place, so I can't just gloss over it. I'm just going to
jump right in and embarrass myself before moving on. Ready? Here we go.

First of all, HE IS SO TALL!!! I'm a relatively tall woman. I'm
5'8". So I've always been attracted to guys who are taller than I am.
My very first boyfriend was one inch shorter than Joe's 6'5". And what
I remember most about that relationship is feeling so small and protected when I was with him. Call it old fashioned, but I loved
feeling so safe with him around. And feeling small isn't something I
get to feel very often, so it was an aspect of our relationship I really
cherished. So ever since then, I've mostly gone for taller guys. When Joe first came into the picture, I (obviously) thought he
was gorgeous. Then I found out how tall he was and I knew I was a
goner. To put that picture of Joe with Channing Tatum in perspective, Channing Tatum is 6'1".

And then, there's his gorgeous face. The smoldering dark eyes, the
jaw, his adorable nose that has obviously been broken at some point, his
ridiculous lips. And the smile lines and little crow's feet. Don't even
get me started on his totally sexy hair. The way it curls, the color. I
just want to run my fingers through it. But my favorite aspect of him
is his beard. I admit it. I have a beard kink. I don't know if it
started because of my husband's beard, or if I've always had it and
that's what attracted me to him in the first place. But I have a
definite thing for beards. Show me (almost) any guy and then add a beard,
and I will think he's more attractive with the beard. So Joe with a
beard? The level of hotness is nearly unbearable for me.

Before we end this totally embarrassing display of fangirling and
move on to more legitimate reasons for loving this man, we must talk
about his absolutely incredible physique. It is almost unreal how toned
and muscular he is. Obviously, he is never going to be a small guy, but
this is ridiculous. But I actually gained some respect for him when I
learned of his reasons for bulking up for his role as Alcide.

It was really important. Charlaine went into a lot of detail in the
books about Alcide being giant – about having arms that look like
boulders. Like Sookie could do pull-ups on them. So I had that in my
head. Vampires can get away with having very slight builds and the
audience will still believe that they're super powerful. Werewolves are
animals and in my mind they should be very muscular. Not an extra ounce
of fat on them. Really ripped. I wanted people to look at Alcide and
think, "wow, he's a super strong animal." I didn’t want them to have to
imagine that he’s a super strong animal. It was also important for me to
get a tan because I think it would off-set my character in terms of all
the other characters.

I respect
someone who takes his work so seriously. And that is how he sees
keeping himself in shape—it's part of his job. He works out twice a
day, six days a week. That's insanity! Bu, he knows what fans expect
from someone playing a werewolf, and he is trying to give us what we
want. And, Good Lord, did he give us what we want....

His Unique BackgroundJoe
and I share a similar background. No, I'm not from Pittsburgh, and I'm
not Sicilian. I'm talking about our experiences. Joe was an athlete in
his youth. He played volleyball, basketball, and football, but he always
related more to the artsy kids. So after some cajoling from a teacher,
he tried out and got the part of Jud in a stage production of Oklahoma. And eventually, he
gave up athletics to do theatre. My background is quite similar. I
played softball, soccer, and volleyball, but gave it up to do theatre.
That's where both of our passions lie. That's where we both found our
niche. Theatre people are very accepting, in general. So since Joe
didn't feel quite at home with the jocks, he moved to theatre. I was the
same. I never felt comfortable with the jocks, but theatre is where I
found my home.He attended Carnegie Mellon University's esteemed School of Drama.
They accept 15–20 students into their program per year. I know people
sometimes doubt Joe's abilities, but I strongly believe that we haven't
seen nearly all he is capable of yet. For my part, I will tell you
to watch the True Blood scene where Alcide tells Debbie's parents what happened to
her. That is some damn fine acting right there.

Joe (far left, in the sunglasses) in a production at Carnegie Mellon. (Source)

You can also catch him making nerdy theatre jokes about Chekhov
sometimes, and he says that one of his dream roles to play is Stanley in A
Streetcar Named Desire. Which brings me to my next point...

His Nerdy SideJoe
is a self-professed comic book nerd. He says that he used to go through
comic books so fast as a kid that he resorted to stealing them.
I don't condone stealing, but I understand why he did it.
Readers are like addicts. We need our next fix and we need it now. For
the record, later in life, he returned all the stolen comics to the
shop.

He's
also a music and art nerd. He is always mentioning a new band or
gallery opening or concert he went to on Twitter, and he has even done
backup vocals on a couple of tracks from The Users. And he has made or will make several appearances on The Nerdist's Chris Hardwick's various talk shows. He's not afraid to admit his nerd status.Joe also campaigned hard to star in the new Superman reboot. But,
alas, True Blood's schedule kept him away. However, when asked about the
possibility of taking over Batman from Christian Bale, he had this to
say:

From your mouth to God’s ears, man. I mean of course, I grew up—as a
kid, I read comic books and I watched every single comic book movie that
ever… You know, I was a big sci-fi fan. I was just that kid. I’m a
fanboy at heart. So, yeah, that is on my radar.Screenrant.com

His Terrible VisionEvery nerd needs glasses. Joe is no exception. I
know this sounds weird, but this is one of the things I love about
him. I have really bad vision too, so it helps me connect with him. His
vision is so bad, he claims it can't be fixed with LASIK.
Plus, I have a little bit of a glasses kink. So I find him even more
attractive in his glasses. Fun fact: The glasses he wears at the
beginning of Magic Mike are his actual glasses. Look at him, who could resist this man in his glasses??

His Relationship with His WolfNo, this is not a euphemism. Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm
talking about Joe's tentative friendship with the wolf who plays Alcide.
His name is Thunder and he's a North American Timber Wolf. The trainers
were hesitant to let them meet, since Thunder is a real, live wolf.
But Joe wanted to get to know his wolfy counterpart, and more
importantly, observe him in action. So after learning a few tips from
the trainers, Joe met Thunder. Now they are on somewhat friendly terms,
and Thunder will let Joe pet him and take him for walks on the set. I love
that Joe realized this was an important bond for a man playing a
werewolf. And even though I'm sure it was terrifying, he did it anyway.

His Love for His TeamJoe was born and raised in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. So he was raised to love the Steelers. He
bleeds black and gold. Why does this endear him to me so much? Truth be
told, I'm not much of a football fan. But I am a baseball fan. And,
being from a long line of South Side Chicagoans, I bleed White Sox black
and white. I love my team. So I love that he loves his team so much.
He goes to several games a year, when his schedule allows. He has been
the ceremonial Terrible Towel waver at a game or two. I'm not really
sure what that means, but he was very excited about it. You can catch
him wearing Steelers gear quite often in season and out. Apparently, he
comes from a line of superstitious Steelers fans. They have their lucky
Terrible Towels and jerseys and will even go as far as not moving from a
certain position if the Steelers start to win. And when asked who his
heroes are, after naming all of the men and women of our armed forces,
he adds the Steelers to that list. Just like a little boy who idolizes
his team. I love it.

His Support of Gay RightsJoe
and Matt Bomer, out-and-proud actor, have been friends since they
attended Carnegie Mellon together, going on 15 years now. Because of his
friendship with Matt and others, Joe has been very active in the gay
rights campaign. He, along with several True Blood cast members, did a
video for the It Gets Better video project. And he has attended several
benefits for the Trevor Project. He gave a very moving speech about Matt Bomer and his partner, while presenting Matt with an award at
an event for the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. He also
gave a speech about his own experiences with bullying at a Human Rights Campaign event. His support of the gay rights movement, and children's
charity Claire's Place, make me fall even more deeply in love with this man.

His Willingness to Make A Fool of HimselfI'm just going to let these speak for themselves...

Yes, he growls on command...

And body rolls...

He also give out lap dances. Where do I sign up?

Oh Brad...

I just....there are no words..

And finally.....he will put on a prosthetic beer belly and let Kylie Minogue eat Doritos off of it.

If all of these reasons haven't yet convinced you, here are some random fun facts about the amazing Joe Manganiello:

He is excellent at knife throwing and was considering joining the FBI before he turned to acting. (I told you he'd be a perfect Zane, minions.)

From the age of 16 to 21, his job was to dress up as Captain Morgan and go to bars.

One of his favorite gifts is a stuffed Eeyore from Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer.

He's trained as a boxer and used to be a sparring partner for an NHL player.

Well Saucy Readers, have I convinced any more of you to join me on the
dark side? I know my rampant fangirling of this man has caused a couple
of the Wenches to join me in my worship of him. What about you? Let me
know in the comments!!

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