Remember the scene in The Godfather where the grandpa was scaring the daylights out of that kid. It was supposed to be cute but I laughed my hiney off.My children have never seen The Godfather, of course, but they do love oranges. They were walking around the house like this. So, a photo op was born.
Anyway...
That movie is where I first saw my Andy. 
I fell in "deep crush" with Andy Garcia after watching that movie. The scene where he looks at his woman at the end of the movie, grasps the door and shuts it practically in her face, while looking deep into her eyes...Oh my goodness. Yacka pookie he's a hot tamale!
He is the crush that took the place of my childhood Italian crush, Scott Baio. As Scott got older, he got less hunky and I lost interest in good old Scott but he held my fancy from the age of 7 to about fifteen. Andy, however, oh my, he hung in there. I still like him, a lot. Those eyes and that strong, mellow voice just. Whew...
I'm just a huge sucker for Italian men. My hubby is Italian. I saw him at the county fair and that was that. We've been together ever since. He was not about to be the one who got away. I knew my Italian when I saw him, he thought I was the best thing since sliced bread so we made toast..or a sandwich or whatever...
My fascination for Italian men is woven into my psyche somehow, some way. I even think Anthony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is one of the hottest men to ever walk on the face of this earth. Dark haired, Dark eyed, sure of themselves Italians, of any size, float my boat, curl my toes and make my mouth water.
I fell in "deep crush" with Andy Garcia after watching that movie. The scene where he looks at his woman at the end of the movie, grasps the door and shuts it practically in her face, while looking deep into her eyes...Oh my goodness. Yacka pookie he's a hot tamale!
He is the crush that took the place of my childhood Italian crush, Scott Baio. As Scott got older, he got less hunky and I lost interest in good old Scott but he held my fancy from the age of 7 to about fifteen. Andy, however, oh my, he hung in there. I still like him, a lot. Those eyes and that strong, mellow voice just. Whew...
I'm just a huge sucker for Italian men. My hubby is Italian. I saw him at the county fair and that was that. We've been together ever since. He was not about to be the one who got away. I knew my Italian when I saw him, he thought I was the best thing since sliced bread so we made toast..or a sandwich or whatever...
My fascination for Italian men is woven into my psyche somehow, some way. I even think Anthony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is one of the hottest men to ever walk on the face of this earth. Dark haired, Dark eyed, sure of themselves Italians, of any size, float my boat, curl my toes and make my mouth water.But I digress...I was watching my new favorite sit-com, George Lopez, the other night. Let me rephrase that...I was blogging while Brise, our 11 year old son, was watching George Lopez the other night when who should appear on his show, as the brother-in-law, but...du du dummm...Andy Garcia!
I heard his beautiful voice from behind me and KNEW right away that the man speaking was "my" Andy. I immediately twirled around in my chair, stared at the screen and watched in amazement as he played the part of a Latino.
As the show kept going and he kept talking and I began to snap out of "Italian man watching" mode...it dawned on me.
Andy Garcia.
G.A.R.C.I.A.
Garrrcceeeeaaaa...
Latino name.. Helloooo
My brain began to register this and the turmoil that took place in my mind was truly a chaotic mess. I whispered to myself in my mind...
"Shelly, pssst...Andy is not Italian."
From somewhere deep inside, another part of me whispered back...
"Yes he is. See my toes curling there....He's a hotty Italian man."
The first voice emerged again gently nudging...
"Shelly honey, he's a Latino. He's 'Garcia' precious dear...not Gargano, not Garofalo, not Garin...It's G-A-R-C-I-A...as in L-A-T-I-N-O"
At about that moment I realized that Brise was snapping his fingers at me.
"Mom!" snapping his fingers "What's wrong with you?"
My mouth was open, my eyes were watering and I must have looked terribly perplexed because the look on my 11 year old son's face was one of deep question and worry.
As I woke from my inner dialogue, It registered. I looked up. I looked over at Brise and said,
"He's not Italian."
To which Brise replied, "Okayyy?"
How did I not know this?!
There goes my super-uber-crush that was born from the Italian Mob movie.
My Andy, my beautiful, Italian mob, hunky powerful Andy...rolling the dough
with the girl in the sexy, mind-numbing kitchen scene...will forever be....
the beautiful, talented actor who played an Italian.
Somehow, it's just not the same. *sob*
As the show kept going and he kept talking and I began to snap out of "Italian man watching" mode...it dawned on me.
Andy Garcia.
G.A.R.C.I.A.
Garrrcceeeeaaaa...
Latino name.. Helloooo
My brain began to register this and the turmoil that took place in my mind was truly a chaotic mess. I whispered to myself in my mind...
"Shelly, pssst...Andy is not Italian."
From somewhere deep inside, another part of me whispered back...
"Yes he is. See my toes curling there....He's a hotty Italian man."
The first voice emerged again gently nudging...
"Shelly honey, he's a Latino. He's 'Garcia' precious dear...not Gargano, not Garofalo, not Garin...It's G-A-R-C-I-A...as in L-A-T-I-N-O"
At about that moment I realized that Brise was snapping his fingers at me.
"Mom!" snapping his fingers "What's wrong with you?"
My mouth was open, my eyes were watering and I must have looked terribly perplexed because the look on my 11 year old son's face was one of deep question and worry.
As I woke from my inner dialogue, It registered. I looked up. I looked over at Brise and said,
"He's not Italian."
To which Brise replied, "Okayyy?"
How did I not know this?!
There goes my super-uber-crush that was born from the Italian Mob movie.
My Andy, my beautiful, Italian mob, hunky powerful Andy...rolling the dough
with the girl in the sexy, mind-numbing kitchen scene...will forever be....
the beautiful, talented actor who played an Italian.
Somehow, it's just not the same. *sob*
6 comments:
hey! thanks for visiting my blog and leaving me a comment. sorry it's taken a few days to reciprocate!
your post...ROTF! I LOVE Andy Garcia but not from The Godfather, which I only just saw a few months ago (how is that possible, right?) but from that cute little film he did with Meg Ryan - When A Man Loves A Woman. Loved him...SO much! Who cares if he's an eskimo? HE'S HOT! And that voice - it just melts my...anyway, back to work. Thanks for the short fantasy!
Andy Garcia wasn't in the Godfather. That was Al Pacino. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000199/
Andy Garcia was born in Cuba, and his real name is Andrés Arturo García y Menéndez.
Al Pacino's real name is Alfredo James Pacino.
Oh my anonymous friend he WAS in the Godfather...part III, in 1990.
He played Vincent Mancini. His character took over the family business...if you know what I mean. :-)
If I don't know the difference between Al Pacino and Andy Garcia...I might as well hang up my "woman" hat and call it a day. We know the difference...different type of toe curl ya know. :-)
As far as the Cuban connection...yes I know. I looked it up. Latino to the bone, he is. No Italian anywhere... Oh well...
Still a Hotty even through the eyes of me, the Italian lover! :-)
I've always had a soft spot for brown eyes, so it didn't matter whether they were Italian or Latino.
My favorite, I think, is Jimmy Smits. Though I couldn't bear to watch "Cane" after he ordered that hit.
You are suffering from what I called American Prejudiced towards all things Latin. Which by the way, unless you speak Spanish the proper term is Latin, Latino is Spanish for Latin and should be reserved for Spanish speakers while communicating with each other. Which brings me to my second point, the term Latin was taken from Latin American (From Mexico to Argentina), which was colonized primarily by Latin Europeans, including Portuguese, Spanish, French & Italians. The term Latin in the European context derived from Latin (the Language), which was predominant throughout Europe due to the spread of the Roman (Italians) Empire. Third point, a man does not have to be 5'-5", round and brown to be cataloged "Latino". In fact most of the Latin Americans running around in the US of A are not really "Latin" in the pure sense of the word, they are mostly Amerindians (Native Latin American, Aztecs, Mayas, etc.) or Ladinos (European mixed with Amerindian). The true "Latins" are those of mainly European descent(Spanish, Italian). But you are not alone, that is just a symptom of American Racism, trying to label everybody by ethnicity and race. Why can't we all be simply Americans?
Hi Jorge,
I appreciate your view. I do acknowledge that everyone carries prejudice toward...well...many, many races, personalities and lifestyles. I am not exempt from these tendencies, thus my love of dark haired, dark eyed, wide shouldered men. They all seem to represent an Italian man to me. I don't know why.
I've been the brunt of many a slant eyed look because I am overweight and homeschool my children. It is a sad part of the human condition that we hold some narrow views of certain lifestyles. This is the cause of much tension in society...BUT IS NOT SEQUESTERED TO AMERICAN OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
In this particular instance, Andy could have very well been named Andy O'Malley and I would have still thought him to be Italian. (sad as that may be)
His name, though obviously Latin, did not spark one bit of thought in my brain that he could possibly be anything other than Italian. I believe it was the fact that my first introduction to "him" was in a film about Italians...that...coupled with my love of Italian men just duped my brain.
I may be prejudice. I may be American. In this instance, your assertion is without merit and highly offensive. I believe you are the prejudiced person in this scenerio...against Americans!
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