Defining Heat, (probably) Part 1

There's a television show (bows to my Snow Queen friend who equated geekdom by her television shows, either the number, or the shows, or the fact that she could rattle them off so easily, I'm not sure) that's been on the USA network for two seasons now, Leverage. The characters are interesting and I like Parker best, the thief who's a bit crazy, but, even the first time I watched it, at my advanced age of 29+++, I realized that some of my friends, and probably many women, would enjoy it to watch Eliot, the martial arts-warrior member of the crew. His face is nice, but not wildly handsome. He's got muscles, which most of us find somewhat attractive, but there's just something that he exudes that says, "I am the hottie around here." This character wears workout clothes, sometimes gloves without fingers, a stocking cap (Daddy called it a watch cap, but I am sure there's another name now), and a ponytail, from which his hair occasionally falls. I've always liked long hair (although I never could get DH to grow his long), and the relaxed look this character is just amusingly appealing to me (I may be a grandmother now, but I can still appreciate art, right?).

This past weekend, a customer (although not necessarily one of OUR customers) came in and headed immediately for the computers to try to get on and do who-knows-what-but-not-genealogy. I saw him from the side and back (no face) as he entered and immediately though, "Ugh!" Then I realized he was dressed exactly like Eliot does on the show, the clothes, gloves, cap and ponytail. The difference is that this guy looked (and smelled) like he hadn't bathed or washed his clothes in a week. The contrast of well-packaged scruffy guy (popular in cinema, television and fiction) and street-person scruffy guy (common in real life), so similar yet so different, was startling. Therefore, my first definition of hotness, which was probably a given anyway, is that of cleanliness. One may look ragged, but one's clothes must be clean and one must have bathed within recent memory. In other words, bad boys must not smell bad(ly).