So here's the deal. My fiancée and I have been working on spending more time doing what the other person likes to do. She's really into pottery, I'm really into cars and driving. I really like sci-fi and/or fantasy novels where her reading tends more toward plausible crime drama and the occasional vampire paperback. I watch what I consider to be the better written shows along the lines of my taste in books (Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Life, 24, Chuck, House, Heroes, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Top Gear, and Fifth Gear. She watches (mostly) reality shows. In the past I've managed to avoid watching the likes of Amazing Race, Survivor, Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance, The Bachelor, and Paris Hilton's British Best Friend. But the time has come where I've had to prove my commitment to the whole dipping-your-toes-in-the-other-person's-pool, and it happened with the season premiere of America's Next Top Model. I really didn't know what to expect from this snoozefest other than a continuous parade of small-breasted (a plus in my book, personally), skinny, often scantily-clad girls about ~20 years old who would rather get into catfights than play it straight. If the first episode is anything to go by, my suspicions were confirmed. But something else caught my eye.

Allison. One of the contestants this "Cycle" (the ANTM word for season, apparently), is the stunningly captivating beauty you see above. Her eyes remind me of anime/manga characters, and her face shape is so different, I can't stop looking at her. Not since Devon Aoki (of War, 2Fast 2Furious, Dead or Alive, Sin City, and Mutant Chronicles fame) has someone's unique face shape grabbed my attention so completely.

I'm of course not going to stop what I'm doing and run off to stalk her in real life, but she's definitely going to keep my eyes glued to the screen each week during "together time".

To her credit, my fiancée isn't the least bit irritated with my fascination. She's doing her little happy dance that I'm going to willingly go along with watching one of her favorite reality shows. She isn't ignorant of my motivation, but she knows that nothing will come of it except my rapt attention directed where she wanted it.

Everybody wins!

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Obviously, these are screen captures. I did not take these pictures. They are copyright (C) The CW Network.