Jackson Rathbone

Bite me or sing to me, vampire or rock star; either way, I’m all yours! Jackson Rathbone, my personal favorite reason to be excited about the opening of New Moon, is a perfectly adorable “Jack-of-all-entertainment-trades’ – vampire, movie & TV actor, musician, singer, composer – there’s apparently nothing this boy can’t do, and do very well indeed.

Jackson first came to general notice in November ’08, by playing one of the key secondary characters in the Twilight Universe, Jasper Whitlock-Hale-Cullen. (Jasper’s proper surname depends upon what point of the book/movie saga you are referring to!) While many of the young actors in the film ignited furious debate over whether they were the right choices to play the much beloved Twilight characters, Jackson was universally accepted as an excellent ‘spot on’ Jasper. In spite of having limited screen-time in the film, Jackson managed to breathe life into the non-breathing vampire, enough to make his brief scenes memorable ones. For myself, one of the few warm-blooded females who did NOT fall into a swoon at the sight of Robbie Pattinson, the films’ brooding ‘Edward’ – I found Mr. Rathbone to be the most attractive male in a cast positively filled with Fan Girl ‘eye candy.’ Voicing this opinion often produced the comment: “You mean the one that looks like Edward Sissorhands?” And my reply: “Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing? Edward Sissorhands is JOHNNY DEPP, after all!!”

With a little research, I soon discovered that there was a great deal more to Jackson than being convincing in golden contacts and swinging a mean vampire baseball bat. He has several TV appearances on his resume, as well as some lesser-known films. I’d highly recommend checking out his ‘Criminal Minds’ episode, and movies Big Stan and S. Darko – all impressive examples of his acting ability and range. I’m also looking forward to his role as ‘Sokka’ in the upcoming The Last Airbender – and have fingers crossed that his lower budget films: Dread, Hurt and Girlfriend will make their way to mainstream theaters.

The biggest surprise, however, was discovering that Jackson Rathbone has his own band, 100 Monkeys. I became a devoted Monkey’s fan this past June, when I had the great fortune and absolute pleasure of seeing them perform live in New York City. I’ll freely admit that I had no expectations of the show, since my limited grasp of their music – based on poor quality YouTube fan video – was that it was mainly ‘jazz’ oriented, not a type of music I usually favor, but ‘100 Monkey’s LIVE is nothing short of incredible! Much of the music is jazz-ish, but they play faster rock-type numbers too, and all of it wonderful to hear and to watch! In fact, I can’t imagine anyone not having a great time watching these guys perform! They were all having SO MUCH fun — I could not help but wonder whatever made Jackson want to go into acting, since he obviously loves his music with his whole heart! During the show he played guitar, keyboard, drums, and trumpet, as well as singing lead for most of the songs. They also do ‘improv’ songs, which consists of creating an entire song, music and lyrics, right on the spot; something that you just have to experience for yourself to believe!

It certainly doesn’t hurt the show, that the other guys who make up 100 Monkeys, (Jerad Anderson, Ben Johnson & Ben Graupner), are all quite cute, but it was difficult to pay them any attention, with Jackson there. Looking even more gorgeous in person than he does on screen; Jackson’s eyes are ‘immortally’ beautiful, and his SMILE…. ‘lights up the room’ does not begin to cover it! For days after the show, I saw that smile every time I closed my eyes, just like the ‘after image’ of a flash bulb!

OK, so at just short of his 25th birthday, Jackson Rathbone is an accomplished actor, part of one of the major pop-culture crazes of our time, a genius level musician and performer, and a drool-worthy male specimen besides! Talent, fame, fortune, and striking good looks – ‘too shallow’ you say? Well, by all reports he’s an absolute sweetheart to his cast mates, and to those fans who have been lucky enough to have a personal ‘encounter’ – he loves his mother (sporting a ‘Mom’ in a heart, tattoo) and is, dare I say, ‘super’ intelligent – and if you think that’s exaggerated, look up ‘Hundredth-monkey effect’ on Wikipedia! And that’s why, while the Twi-World divides itself between the Rob-sessed and the Wolf-girls… just call me ‘Team Jasper’!

Fansites:
Jackson Rathbone dot Org
Jackson Rathbone Online

Official Sites:
The Twilight Saga
The Last Airbender

100 Monkey Sites:
Official Site
MySpace
Twitter

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