Top Ten Reasons for 21 Days of Bradley Cooper

Not that anyone needs a reason to blog about anything, really, but I do have reasons for writing about Bradley Cooper for the next 21 days. Reasons other than the fact that once it occurred to me to do it, it seemed too hilarious not to. And too impossible to have 21 posts that fit my blog and connect to him somehow. I mean–it’s not solely a fansite. He has at least one of those arready.

I have something in mind similar to the moments when the absolutely brilliant curator of “Fuck Yeah, Paul Gross” waxes thoughtful.

So it might be movie reviews, or meditations on subjects in his movies, or just any random thing I’ve noted. Plus at least one sample essay which I need to write for my ENG 102 students for their pop culture unit.

And at least one serious piece on the creative process–his relationship with Robert DeNiro is awfully interesting in terms of how creativity crosses generations.

But, o.k. sure, 21 days is a little obsessive. Let me share with you a question I have been asking for YEARS: What do people who aren’t obsessive have in their heads? Just nothing? Just air?

Don’t answer.

Here are my top ten reasons for 21 Days of Bradley Cooper:

10. He was an English major, so he may well have an opinion on the Oxford comma.

9. He lives with his mom. Who is short.

But it’s more than the fact that I’m a short English professor who loves both her son and her mother:

8. Because there are so many nominations for Silver Linings Playbook, I am going to watch EVERY MINUTE of the Oscars, and I actually care who wins. I can’t remember the last time both of these happened, and I am genuinely excited. Also, his short mother will be his Oscar date.

7. Even my therapist is a Bradley Cooper fan.

6. Good excuse to watch Bradley Cooper movies I haven’t yet seen.

5. As an English professor, part of my work is writing. As a writer, blogging is part of my work. If I research for a blog, that is work. If I write about Bradley Cooper then I turn out to be a complete workaholic. The irony alone makes this an important reason.

4. In January, I inadvertently upped my blog traffic SIGNIFICANTLY by writing about David Bowie and Jodie Foster. Since I genuinely love pop culture, I do want to write about it, and I love the idea of piggy backing on all the Googling Mr. Cooper must be generating. Craven, I know. [Here’s a little bonus tip for you Lexulous players out there–“cravens” is an acceptable word. Might be for Scrabble, too. Not sure.]

3. February is bleak in Wisconsin, in terms of scenery. The landscape is gray, and all the pretty young seasonals from American Players Theatre don’t start showing up until April and May. Thus, pics of Bradley Cooper can’t help but brighten things up:

Bradley Cooper at TriBeca in 2009.

2. I write a lot of sonnets for this blog and some of the subjects of those sonnets wouldn’t recognize a sonnet if it bit them in the ass. I suspect Mr. Cooper would. Not that he would see a sonnet here. And not that my sonnets bite.

Not in the ass, anyway.

But ultimately, the reason is

1. Silver Linings Playbook was a phenomenal movie. I haven’t been that moved by a movie in a long, long time. I find myself wanting to write about it and this way I won’t feel like I need to say it all in one post.

So, from now until the Oscars, I’m going to try to post something of substance about Bradley Cooper every day. Something every day, anyway.

(Picture of Bradley Cooper by David Shankbone from flickr–part of Creative Commons)