Top 100 Fictional Male Role Models
Reading through this list of the top 100 fictional male role models, I wasn't sure whether to just save it to del.icio.us for posterity or to link to it from here. Then I got to number 18, which sealed the deal in its favour:
Imagine if the greatest film noir detectives in history somehow gave birth to a high schooler, who almost immediately becomes world-weary and cynical when the love of his life leaves him to hang out with a bunch of drug addicts. That's Brendan, a quick-talking sonofabitch who knows all the angles, trusts no one, and prefers to isolate himself from the rest of humanity. After his ex-girlfriend gets killed, he hatches a plan to find her murderer and bury any and everyone who had something to do with it. But he plays it smart: he doesn't kill anybody, he just maneuvers them into precarious positions where they either get killed or arrested. He's ballsy enough to infiltrate the most dangerous drug ring in the county, and smart enough to bring it down from the inside without getting burned. He's the guy all the sad, intelligent loners (myself included) wanted to be in high school.
Read it and find yourself nodding in agreement.